Showing posts with label Decapitation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Decapitation. Show all posts
12 Sept 2012
Terror Eyes - Lisa's Review
So another slasher whodunnit movie this week... well I say this week, but as I'm late with this weeks movie, I'm playing catchup from last week. Was it worth the wait? Ummmm no.
It wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen by a long shot. It was watchable, but was it enjoyable? Ummmm no.
We follow a motorcycle-helmet wearing, leather-clad murderer with a penchant for decapitating young ladies. The murder scenes themselves are not very graphic and in all cases cut away at the point of decapitation. All to be seen is a pretty poor head prop and not a lot of blood given the injury sustained. In one case a poor turtle is clonked over the head with a severed head which was thrown into a swimming pool (The murderer always puts his aquired heads in water).
I found the movie quite misogynistic and voyeuristic in its presentation. It had a seedy air to it and the murder scenes did not seem as disturbing as the method of presentation by the director, who I thought more than once must have some odd sexual perversions. A shower scene with the movies main actress and her prat of a boyfriend (college professor with a penchant for sleeping with his students) pointed towards a love of the look of a female 'blooded-up' body when the professor smeared her body in red paint of some description as part of their lovemaking. Seemed a bit odd to me..
What else can I say about the movie. It wasn't shocking. The acting was pretty poor. The script and dialogue didn't come across as real in any respect and distracted from the story when you were forced to address in your head how crap it actually was. I found scenes very much to be filmed and presented from a very male viewpoint and a bit of a perv at that. This in itself made the discovery of the helmet wearing freak all the more ridiculous. It was kind of obvious, but I found myself hoping (in vain) through most of the movie that the killer wasn't who I thought it was. Sadly it was, which is downright ridiculous. There are copious reasons why this makes no sense at all, but I could only be bothered to argue these had the movie got any other kind of relevance or made any other kind of impression. Sadly it failed on all counts.
Like I said, not the worst thing I've ever seen but definately far from one of the best. Bog standard average slasher movie with an undertone of voyeuristic pervert.
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
8 Sept 2012
Terror Eyes - Will's Review
You know how the saying goes; Another week, another forgettable (though not entirely terrible) slasher!
This time, a killer in biker leathers and helmet is decapitating women, and throwing their heads in water.
It quickly becomes apparent that the victims all have one thing in common - the apparent, or alleged, affection of a college Anthropology professor, who collects skulls gathered from tribal head hunters from around the world; Mmmmmmm...
Of course, it doesn't take someone who watches horror movies week-in week-out to realise that such an obvious suspect is probably not the killer; and from there it's a short step to work out who the killer is.
As I mention each head turn up in water, but there's dome nice verity nether the less; a bucket, a toilet, and a turtle tank all get a look in (the poor turtle even gets clonked on the head with the prop) and there's a nice sequence in a cafe where we KNOW the head is going to show up, but we don't know where; sadly, it drags on a bit, but initially at least it's a fun bit.
So, with all the killing being more-or less identical, the mystery aspect redundant, and nothing else about the film standing out as notably strong or weak, I'm once again left with a shorter than average review.
BodyCount: 6
Boob Count: 1 side-boob
Most memorable kill: Deadly-go-round
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
It quickly becomes apparent that the victims all have one thing in common - the apparent, or alleged, affection of a college Anthropology professor, who collects skulls gathered from tribal head hunters from around the world; Mmmmmmm...
Of course, it doesn't take someone who watches horror movies week-in week-out to realise that such an obvious suspect is probably not the killer; and from there it's a short step to work out who the killer is.
As I mention each head turn up in water, but there's dome nice verity nether the less; a bucket, a toilet, and a turtle tank all get a look in (the poor turtle even gets clonked on the head with the prop) and there's a nice sequence in a cafe where we KNOW the head is going to show up, but we don't know where; sadly, it drags on a bit, but initially at least it's a fun bit.
So, with all the killing being more-or less identical, the mystery aspect redundant, and nothing else about the film standing out as notably strong or weak, I'm once again left with a shorter than average review.
BodyCount: 6
Boob Count: 1 side-boob
Most memorable kill: Deadly-go-round
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
11 Aug 2012
The Slayer - Lisa's Review
*** SPOILERS ***
A familiar feel to this weeks movie.... A woman has recurring dreams, which start to appear to come true and the horrid series of events can only continue while she sleeps. If she stays awake, everyone will be fine... Hmmm sound familiar? From a little reading however, it seems doubtful Wes Craven found his inspiration for 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' from this little movie, although the premis is so eerily similar.
Thankfully in this movie, we aren't following a group of teenagers for a change, but instead a young woman (Kay) who obviously has some mental issues (she's the one with the dreams), her husband, her brother and his wife. They go to an island as a means of Kay getting away from things for a while, as they become increasingly worried when she starts to paint everything she see's in dreams and becomes obsessed with her dreams. However, when they get there it becomes clear very quickly that the surrounding and buildings are the same as those which appear in Kays dreams and in her paintings. She becomes more and more unstable and hysterical.
As expected, people start to die and when Kays sister-in-law starts to feel there may be some truth to what Kay has been saying, she is quickly reprimanded by Kays brother. It has been made very clear from the off that Kay has issues. Her brother is also shown to be not the most supportive of siblings, pointing out how much of a fruit loop she is and how she supposedly killed a kitten she was given as a present one christmas as a child.
So we've off'd Kays husband by way of a dropped trap door... which so wouldn't have worked that way (I hate it when its not believable), but he does die convincingly so kudos for that. The brother follows with a fishing hook to the face, being pulled out to see. The sister-in-law is impaled by a pitchfork while investigating the rather eerie boat-house looking for her husband. Good death there, again very believable.
We are left awaiting the ending and there is a twist. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but it was pretty obvious for the most part. One aspect was a bit confusing and unexpected, but the idea was pretty run of the mill.
So, this movie is quite similar to 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' in principal, but it didn't hold my interest in the same way. The movie is very well shot and looks fantastic in places. The locations are delightfully eerie. The lighting is great. Even the acting here isn't too bad (although our lead actress does over-egg the pudding in places), one thing cannot be got away from however... it is sooooooo slow. The pacing is terrible. I hate it when a movie takes 5 minutes to portray something that should have been over in 30 seconds. Why should a walk across a room take 2 minutes? It just takes too long to get anywhere. I am not the worlds most patient person so a slow movie is torture to me, unless there's a strong storyline, but here its too obvious to attempt suspense.
The eventual reveal of 'The Slayer' is a bit of an anticlimax too. The make-up isn't too bad, I just didn't feel freaked out enough... maybe I've been watching too many of these.
In conclusion, you could do much worse than watch this movie. Its not bad, but its not fantastic either, but a lot of that will be down to my hatred of slow scenes and uneven pacing, maybe another reviewer would be more positive.
I doubt you will see anything here you haven't seen before.
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
7 Jul 2012
Nightmare Maker - Lisa's Review
Bit of a weird one this week. This movie, like a few other 'nasties' has the feel of a TV movie to me, but the content is most definately not something you would find on TV. Obsession, incest, homophobia and murder pretty much sum it up.
We focus on teenager Billy, who has been living with his aunt Cheryl since the death of his parents in a car accident. The movie actually opens with the accident and some pretty ok effects I thought. A nasty decapitation for the dad and a roll job and burst into flames for the mum. I thought the sudden and fast entry into some action bode well for the movie, but we were led onto a completely different movie from then on.
It becomes very clear early on that aunt Cheryl is not all she seems and has rather sinister incestuous intentions towards young Billy. Given that she has raised him from a very young child and is like a mother to him, this is very disturbing and somewhat uncomfortable to watch. All seems well in their rather wierd world until Billy starts to live his life to the exclusion of his aunt, intending on going to college (which she does everything initially to dissuade him from) and spending time with a girl from college who seems to have a crush on him. The very thought of losing Billy from her clutches seems to send Cheryl over the edge of whatever small amount of sanity she possessed.
We cross from disturbed and creepy into completely insane and murderous when a poor TV repair man spurns her advances and she reacts by stabbing him to death. Billy walks in while she still has the weapon in her hand, still stuck into the victims neck... she immediately claims rape. A couple of neighbours also call in and witness the gory aftermath, so obviously the police are called in. Cheryl manages to talk Billy into covering for her to the cops but our cop smells a rat. Questions are raised as to how Cheryl managed to escape from the heavyset repair man to stab him and he is later discovered to be gay.... so obviously its a bit odd that he would be trying to rape a woman.
The cop may smell a rat but he is chasing the wrong person as he believes Billy is hiding something and is to blame. He also believes Billy is gay, something he has a whole load of problems with. This is another aspect of the movie that is quite uncomfortable... the homophobic language and derisory manner that gay people are discussed throughout. It is very clearly from a different time and uses language no director would dare to today. I lost count of the amount of times 'Fag' was mentioned. The police have it seems no interest in solving any crime or getting to the bottom of any murder in this movie. There is an altogether more important agenda for this dirty cop.
The rest of the movie plays out as you would expect with more madness, more violence and death, more incestuous discomforts and more homophobia. I found it really difficult to stay focused and pay attention without my mind drifting. Its a sign to me that I'm not enjoying a movie when I have to force myself to pay attention to it.
I wouldn't say I hated this movie, but I personally didn't particularly enjoy it. It certainly wasn't one of the worst I've seen but I could understand people enjoying this one, it just didn't stand out for me and the only thing remotely different about it was downright cringeworthy.
In conclusion, I wouldn't say avoid it, but I wouldn't say rush out and watch it either.
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
17 Mar 2012
The House by the cemetery - Lisa's Review
A nice little movie this week! Another Fulci offering. This movie is apparently a part of an unofficial trilogy with The Beyond which we watched a few months ago when we were still on 'B' and City of the living dead.
*** SPOILERS ***
Although the movie is quite dated as you would expect and the poor dubbing is irritating, I still managed to enjoy this movie. Its a good little afternoon view. I didn't find anything particularly scary, but the makeup in places is very good. Its just in shame in some other places, its so bad.
The basic premis without going into too much detail is a family (Mum Lucy, Dad Norman and young boy Bob) moving to a town called New Whitby due to the the father (Norman) having to research some old houses. The house they move into however is not as innocent as it seems.
We 'the viewer' already have this information on board from the opening scene of a young woman (topless at that... why do women never wear bras in these movies?) who is murdered via a knife to the back of the head (which protrudes from her mouth) as she is looking for her boyfriend. Also Bob keeps seeing the ghost of a young girl Mae who warns him not to go to the house.
Of course they go anyway and the inevitable happens.
They have gravestones in the garden and even in the hallway, of a family called 'The Freudsteins (on a side note, this really bothered me as they were referred to as Freudsteens in the movie, but german pronunciation dictates that with an ie or ei, you pronounce the last letter, so they should have been referred to as Freudstine!) anyways I deviate. We find out that Dr Freudstein does what all historical doctors have done in movies like this....illegal experiements. He also ends up killing his family.
We find out Freudstein is in fact still alive and in the cellar of the house as he is using parts from his victims to regenerate his blood cells. The reveal is kind of disappointing. He looks kind of like a withered ET and a scene which shows only his eyes glowing in the cellar when young Bob comes across him is just laughable.
Nothing much more to the story really. Bad stuff happens, people die.
Points worth noting in the movie are the doggedly determined, haemophiliac bat (very amusing scene), the stabbing by poker (what a horrid way to go and very good effects) and the slow decapitation by knife (again good effects, but let down by the poor severed head rolling down the stairs later).
The movie has its faults, but on the whole, it was a fun watch and something I would watch again. This one gets a 'recommended' from me.
Something I've gained from watching these movies is an appreciation of Mr Fulci!
14 Jan 2012
Evilspeak - Lisa's Review
***SPOILERS***
Bit of a wierd one this in some respects... in that although there were monumentally crap parts to this movie, I quite enjoyed it. For some reason, it reminded me of a male Carrie (obviously nowhere near as good, but the idea was there).
I thought we had a movie set in olden times when this one started and subtitled... I thought this is going to be a challenge with a screaming baby to contend with, but thankfully after an initial 5 minutes or so to set the scene, we switch to what would have been the present day when this movie was made.
We start with what looks like a monk/priest (very bad man!! you just know by looking at them don't you? The menacing glare usually gives it away) being banished by what must be the top dog amongst the holy men. He is accused of satanism and refuses to renounce his worship. This scene ends with possibly the worst beheading (as in crap) I have yet to see in any movie. It was rather satisying that it was the young woman with the impossibly high breasts! *snigger*.
The background set, we head to military school and meet our 'hero' if you will. - Coopersmith (I thought he was called Cooper Smith, but a check online told me otherwise). His parents have been killed in a car accident and he's been placed in this school that he otherwise would never have got into, as he's a bit slow it seems. He (like Carrie) is the misfit, the nerd, the one no-one likes. He is bullied, picked on and ridiculed by other boys and even it seems by a rather cruel minister. One thing which I found it really hard to shake through the whole film is that this is the little kid from 'Gentle Ben'... I so wish they had named a character Ben, just so he could lose him and run around shouting his name... just for the nostalgia.
Getting on to the story, while on a punishment cleaning duty of the cellar, he comes across a rather cool looking book of Black Magic with a jewelled pentagram on the front. This is obviously from our original banished priest. Coopersmith sets to translating the book and for some reason that was completely lost on me through the entire movie, he decides to follow the commands within it to worship satan (and he seems such a nice boy) and bring our nasty man back to life.
One thing I found really irritating about the movie is that the computer he uses to translate the book somehow seems to become possessed and throughout the movie, it throws up all kinds of crap statements and images. I would have much preferred the movie, had he done it the old fashioned way and went to the library and translated it.
We kick off proceedings with a drunken caretaker who wakes up and gets into a tussle with Coopersmith. This culminates inCoopersmith crying out for help and the caretaker meeting a nasty end where his head twists completely around to face the wrong direction. The special effects here are laughable btw.
Later on Coopermith leaves his book on a desk with the school secretary when he is in seeing the head teacher and she develops an obssession with the jewels on the Pentagram... consequentally we need to see her have a shower with the obligatory boob scene, then she is inexplicably attacked and eaten by wild boars. This scene is quite funny as we alternate between a vicious puppet of a boar and some very contented boars wandering about the bathroom.
We go on to a beauty contest (for whatever reason) at the school and lots of girls walking about in bikinis. I didn't really see the point of this section of the movie, but hey ho.
We go on to have Coopersmiths little pet doggie (given to him by a staff member and rare friend) killed by the bullies who are trying to give this 'computer' what it wants - blood. He however demands HUMAN blood. Hmmmmm. That fecking computer!
Meanwhile, there is a service going on upstairs where a Jesus on a crucifix seems to come to life. The veins on his wrist start to pllsate and a nail flies out of his bleeding stoney hand and lodges itself in the miniters forehead... most amusing!
You don't wanna mess with Coopersmith! He becomes possessed by our scary evil priest man and goes on a rampage. This is where the movie went all Carrie for me. Lots of people die nastilly. Very amusingly Coopersmith starts to hover above everyone with his hoisty thing, very clear to be seen underneath his very oddly shaped clothing.
He wields a very lovely sword and the best kill of the movie is a head splitting scene. There are also some awfully bad decapitations and some more hog eating to be done.
We end the movie weirdly with the caretaker who died earlier with the reverse head spin coming back to life and pulling one of the bullies still beating heart out of his chest.... getting bored of that effect now....
In conclusion, we are treated to the news via that update text you sometimes get at the end of movies (I hate that!) that Coopersmith is now in an asylum recovering from everything that happened but the computer with his crap graphics, informs us that he shall return!
I did enjoy parts of this movie, even though some of it was spectacularly bad. You could do worse than watch this one, but you're not going to see anything ground breaking, overly disgusting, creepy or witness any fantastic acting. Medicore but with its own charm.
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
Bit of a wierd one this in some respects... in that although there were monumentally crap parts to this movie, I quite enjoyed it. For some reason, it reminded me of a male Carrie (obviously nowhere near as good, but the idea was there).
I thought we had a movie set in olden times when this one started and subtitled... I thought this is going to be a challenge with a screaming baby to contend with, but thankfully after an initial 5 minutes or so to set the scene, we switch to what would have been the present day when this movie was made.
We start with what looks like a monk/priest (very bad man!! you just know by looking at them don't you? The menacing glare usually gives it away) being banished by what must be the top dog amongst the holy men. He is accused of satanism and refuses to renounce his worship. This scene ends with possibly the worst beheading (as in crap) I have yet to see in any movie. It was rather satisying that it was the young woman with the impossibly high breasts! *snigger*.
The background set, we head to military school and meet our 'hero' if you will. - Coopersmith (I thought he was called Cooper Smith, but a check online told me otherwise). His parents have been killed in a car accident and he's been placed in this school that he otherwise would never have got into, as he's a bit slow it seems. He (like Carrie) is the misfit, the nerd, the one no-one likes. He is bullied, picked on and ridiculed by other boys and even it seems by a rather cruel minister. One thing which I found it really hard to shake through the whole film is that this is the little kid from 'Gentle Ben'... I so wish they had named a character Ben, just so he could lose him and run around shouting his name... just for the nostalgia.
Getting on to the story, while on a punishment cleaning duty of the cellar, he comes across a rather cool looking book of Black Magic with a jewelled pentagram on the front. This is obviously from our original banished priest. Coopersmith sets to translating the book and for some reason that was completely lost on me through the entire movie, he decides to follow the commands within it to worship satan (and he seems such a nice boy) and bring our nasty man back to life.
One thing I found really irritating about the movie is that the computer he uses to translate the book somehow seems to become possessed and throughout the movie, it throws up all kinds of crap statements and images. I would have much preferred the movie, had he done it the old fashioned way and went to the library and translated it.
We kick off proceedings with a drunken caretaker who wakes up and gets into a tussle with Coopersmith. This culminates inCoopersmith crying out for help and the caretaker meeting a nasty end where his head twists completely around to face the wrong direction. The special effects here are laughable btw.
Later on Coopermith leaves his book on a desk with the school secretary when he is in seeing the head teacher and she develops an obssession with the jewels on the Pentagram... consequentally we need to see her have a shower with the obligatory boob scene, then she is inexplicably attacked and eaten by wild boars. This scene is quite funny as we alternate between a vicious puppet of a boar and some very contented boars wandering about the bathroom.
We go on to a beauty contest (for whatever reason) at the school and lots of girls walking about in bikinis. I didn't really see the point of this section of the movie, but hey ho.
We go on to have Coopersmiths little pet doggie (given to him by a staff member and rare friend) killed by the bullies who are trying to give this 'computer' what it wants - blood. He however demands HUMAN blood. Hmmmmm. That fecking computer!
Meanwhile, there is a service going on upstairs where a Jesus on a crucifix seems to come to life. The veins on his wrist start to pllsate and a nail flies out of his bleeding stoney hand and lodges itself in the miniters forehead... most amusing!
You don't wanna mess with Coopersmith! He becomes possessed by our scary evil priest man and goes on a rampage. This is where the movie went all Carrie for me. Lots of people die nastilly. Very amusingly Coopersmith starts to hover above everyone with his hoisty thing, very clear to be seen underneath his very oddly shaped clothing.
He wields a very lovely sword and the best kill of the movie is a head splitting scene. There are also some awfully bad decapitations and some more hog eating to be done.
We end the movie weirdly with the caretaker who died earlier with the reverse head spin coming back to life and pulling one of the bullies still beating heart out of his chest.... getting bored of that effect now....
In conclusion, we are treated to the news via that update text you sometimes get at the end of movies (I hate that!) that Coopersmith is now in an asylum recovering from everything that happened but the computer with his crap graphics, informs us that he shall return!
I did enjoy parts of this movie, even though some of it was spectacularly bad. You could do worse than watch this one, but you're not going to see anything ground breaking, overly disgusting, creepy or witness any fantastic acting. Medicore but with its own charm.
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
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